Zombie Bodyguard-Chapter 1507 - 1504: Igniting the Furnace (Part 2)

At this moment, the platform where the Sword Furnace was located was no longer flat, but had grooves appearing, surrounding the Sword Furnace, extending to the base of the furnace, and continuing to extend at an invisible depth.

Without Tang Banqing’s explanation, Lin Tian had already guessed the purpose of these grooves, which was surely to channel the molten iron within the Sword Furnace. The iron flowed along these winding grooves and finally gathered in a sword-shaped mold. Once the iron solidified inside the mold, it formed the blank of the sword.

After that, the sword blank would undergo thousands of times of forging and then quenching, thus basically completing the main process of sword forging. Of course, this was the general sword forging process Lin Tian learned from ancient books. As for how the techniques of master swordsmiths differ, he was not sure.

"Lin Tian, come here and stick the Fire Suppression Talisman on the south side of the Sword Furnace." Tang Banqing pulled out a wooden box, indicating for Lin Tian to attach the talisman.

Lin Tian had seen this wooden box before; it contained the Fire Suppression Talismans of the Zhang Family. He opened it, took out a Fire Suppression Talisman, and then calculated the position carefully with the Sword Furnace at the center, which turned out to be the front of the furnace.

Lin Tian gently pressed the Fire Suppression Talisman onto the Sword Furnace. As soon as he did so, the talisman paper suddenly flashed, bursting into a fire-red glow, within which a Fire Bird could vaguely be seen spinning, its feathers burning with red flames.

Seeing this Fire Bird, a term flashed across Lin Tian’s mind — Vermilion Bird. The Vermilion Bird is one of the Four Divine Beasts, residing in the south, governing over flames.

The red light only flashed briefly, after which the entire Sword Furnace also flickered, glowing with red light which flashed a few times before being absorbed into the body of the furnace, disappearing without a trace.

"The Fire Suppression Talisman can concentrate firepower while protecting the Sword Furnace from being destroyed. This time, forging the sword is no ordinary matter." Tang Banqing nodded with satisfaction upon seeing the talisman take effect.

Tang Banqing stepped forward again and said to Lin Tian: "Alright, now go open the Earth Fire Channel to heat the Sword Furnace."

Lin Tian had already seen how to open the Earth Fire Channel. The last time during the examination of the deformation stone, Tang Banqing had opened it once. He approached the Sword Furnace, examined it carefully, and found the mechanism for opening it.

Reaching out with force, he pressed, and a few cracking sounds followed. Then the entire underground space shook, and the ground emitted a "rumbling" sound, accompanied by the "click-clack" of the mechanism.

The underground chamber, initially somewhat stuffy, had its temperature gradually rise, turning the entire underground space into a sauna room. However, those present were all experts, so that temperature posed no obstacle, not even causing a drop of sweat.

The vibrations and noise gradually diminished, and at the same time, red light appeared inside the Sword Furnace, growing more intense, as if flames were flowing inside.

Tang Banqing walked around the Sword Furnace once, even placing his hand on the body of the furnace to sense the temperature. Seemingly satisfied with it, he said to Lin Tian, "Lin Tian, throw in the carbon crystals."

Lin Tian was very familiar with carbon crystals, having used them before as fuel for refining medicines. Carbon crystals burn at extremely high temperatures, are very stable, and easily controlled, making them a top-grade fuel.

He glanced at several boxes underground, spotted the gleaming black carbon crystals in one of them, with a quality like top-quality black jade. Lin Tian grabbed a few pieces and threw them in through a dragon-head opening.

As the carbon crystals were added, the red light inside the Sword Furnace changed, turning into a faint purple flame. The emergence of the purple flame caused the temperature within the furnace to rise again.

"Add more." Tang Banqing shouted again. Lin Tian grabbed a few more pieces and threw them in. By continuously adding fuel, half of a large box of carbon crystals was used up in no time, while the flames inside the furnace turned a pure purple, with a terrifyingly high temperature.

Lin Tian noticed that each time he added carbon crystals, the temperature rose, and the Fire Suppression Talisman would quickly flicker with red light, causing the temperature inside the Sword Furnace to rise rapidly.

Indeed, as Tang Banqing said, the Fire Suppression Talisman could concentrate firepower. With the Earth Fire, Fire Suppression Talisman, and burning carbon crystals layered together, the temperature inside the furnace kept rising higher.

"Test the temperature." Tang Banqing said again.

Lin Tian was taken aback and asked perplexedly, "How to test it?" His first instinct was, did they want him to test it by hand? There was no thermometer here.

Tang Banqing glanced at him, then pointed to one of the boxes: "Those are alloy ingots, throw one in and see."

So that’s how it is, Lin Tian realized. That was the method for testing. He picked up an alloy ingot, feeling its slight weight, and then threw it into a dragon-head opening.

Lin Tian activated his super vision, observing the alloy ingot. When the ingot encountered the flames, its outer layer melted in the blink of an eye, and the entire ingot didn’t last ten seconds before it was completely melted.

The molten iron flowed to the bottom of the Sword Furnace and out from the grooves. Tang Banqing pressed a button on the ground, suddenly redirecting a groove, causing the molten iron to flow to another place.

That was a mold groove in the shape of a dagger. The red molten iron flowed into the mold, cooling down and forming the sword blank.

"Take it out and forge it, feel the strength." Tang Banqing guided again, like instructing a disciple, patiently and systematically.

With a guiding mentor, Lin Tian certainly studied diligently. Using tongs, he took out the sword blank and placed it on the anvil. At this point, the sword blank was still a dark red. He recalled the forging methods recorded in books and began hammering away with a clang.

The others watched with interest, but Ling Shuiyao was the only one looking bored. She came to witness the birth of the Divine Sword, yet found herself observing a live lesson instead.

Lin Tian’s speed and strength in forging were unmatched, and soon, a dagger the length of a palm was formed. Tang Banqing opened a stone slab, revealing a pool of clear spring water that flowed slowly, indicating there was evidently an underground channel. However, where this spring water came from remained unknown.

With perceptive insight, Lin Tian placed the dagger in the water, producing a sizzle and a puff of steam.

"Hmm, for the first time, it was quite good." Tang Banqing took the dagger, examined it for a few moments, and praised: "Now we can begin."

Upon hearing the start, Ling Shuiyao, who had been previously listless, suddenly became spirited. Lin Tian also tightened his nerves; there could be no mistake in this sword forging, or else those rare materials would be wasted and perhaps never found again.

"Ghost Orb Broken Blade, throw it in." Tang Banqing said decisively.

Lin Tian picked up the two broken pieces of the Ghost Orb and threw them in. As the Ghost Orb came into contact with the flames, the decorative parts of the hilt instantly burned away, disappearing, but the main part did not melt quickly like the ingots, only rapidly turned red.

"Add more carbon crystals..." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Lin Tian obeyed and threw them in. The flames suddenly surged, and the dragon heads at all sides inhaled a jet of air, creating eight streams of fire inside the furnace that instantly enveloped the Ghost Orb.

"Screee..."

An eerie sound suddenly emanated from the fireball, a sharp and piercing noise that made one’s eardrums tingle and even gave rise to goose bumps. Among those present, Ling Shuiyao, who was the weakest in power, even took a step back.